Jack Carty will make his 200th Connacht appearance in tomorrow’s Investec Champions Cup game against Saracens.
The Roscommon native made his debut in September 2012 and became club captain last year. Carty is also the club’s all-time record point’s scorer.
Carty becomes the sixth player to reach the 200 cap milestone for the province, after John Muldoon, Michael Swift, Denis Buckley, Kieran Marmion and Tiernan O’Halloran.
Also starting is Gavin Thornbury, who makes his return exactly one year to the day since a serious knee injury against Brive last season. Shayne Bolton, makes an appearance for the first time in the campaign.
Also coming into the starting 15 from last weekend are props Jordan Duggan and Jack Aungier. Flanker Conor Oliver, number 8 Paul Boyle, centre Tom Farrell and full-back John Porch.
“As players and coaches we were very blunt in our review of last weekend” said head coach Pete Wilkins. “With honesty and ownership about how the game got away from us”.
“The reaction from the group in training this week has been excellent and we look forward to getting out there and delivering a performance befitting of our ambitions this season”.
“Saracens are a world-class outfit with a fine European pedigree, so there’s no better place to challenge ourselves and show what we’re about.”
Connacht: 15. John Porch, 14. Byron Ralston, 13. Tom Farrell, 12. Bundee Aki, 11. Shayne Bolton, 10. Jack Carty (C), 9. Caolin Blade, 1. Jordan Duggan, 2. Dave Heffernan, 3. Jack Aungier, 4. Darragh Murray, 5. Gavin Thornbury, 6. Cian Prendergast, 7. Conor Oliver, 8. Paul Boyle.
Replacements: 16. Dylan Tierney-Martin, 17. Denis Buckley, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Joe Joyce, 20. Jarrad Butler, 21. Michael McDonald, 22. JJ Hanrahan, 23. Diarmuid Kilgallen.
Connacht v Saracens
Saturday 16th December 2023
StoneX Stadium, Kick-Off: 1pm
